My Journey to/in Bucharest

Month: February 2017

I guess this isn’t so much an update about February but more like a review of 2016 with Hope Rescue Centre but I didn’t think a title with REVIEW in it would be as click-baity. People want new information, I don’t blame them. BUT…I do have new information, statistics, and photos from 2016 that have never been seen or heard. Sorry for sounding like a tabloid cover.

Let me start by saying, Hope Rescue Centre has OFFICIALLY been an ministry for exactly 1 year now so… HAPPY BIRTHDAY or as we say in Romania, LA MULTI ANI! When Mike and Dana sat down with me just over a year ago to officially sign on with HRC as a volunteer, I could never have imagined the progress and “success” it would have had in just 12 short months. I have worked with ministries that have been going for YEARS, we are talking 10+ years, that haven’t gotten as much attention (Facebook likes are important in this day and age!) and progress made in all their time, let alone one year.

We, as volunteers at HRC, know that it hasn’t been OUR hard work, but know that God is loving what we are doing and is continuously growing and blessing this ministry. I think its safe to say that THOUSANDS of people donated, were involved with, and volunteered with HRC in its first year. Not just from abroad, but so so so many locals which is so important to make a ministry work in the long run. But we like to bring the focus back on God, who has given us a purpose and a passion for helping these homeless families in Bucharest.

One last brag.

Two of my favorite things about HRC is 1. The passion every volunteer, board member and donor has to help these families get out of their situation. Not enable, but work towards getting them a trade, education, a skill, a job, and of course, being financially independent. Its hard to explain if you aren’t here, and I say this all the time but honestly, the beneficiaries of HRC are some of the most hated people in Bucharest. In Romania. In Eastern Europe. So to have a team working with such passion and dedication to help and to love these people is so inspiring. Here is a picture from our meeting the other week!

2. The transparency. Oh maaaaaaaan, if everyone was 1000x more transparent in ministry I think we would weed out the healthy vs. unhealthy ministries. HRC had a beginning of the year meeting with the board members and a couple of the volunteers to discuss 2016, goals for 2017, budget, and exact numbers. (That is where the photo above was taken) And by exact numbers I mean HRC logged every.single.donation. that was given in 2016. Where the money went. How much the director makes. How much is in the current account. All of it. It was so refreshing to see it all, and encouraging, because wow, so many donations came in!! I have almost been here 5 years now, and I can sometimes (okay, maybe a lot of times) be discouraged by ministries that aren’t transparent. It is SO importantly to stay accountable, stay honest, and stay transparent (Is there a synonym for this word?!) to the supporters and to the staff. I feel like this would be obvious, but unfortunately it’s not. HRC blew me away with the details on the donations to assure all the supporters that we are using their donations in the most effective way.

Anyways, I will get off my soap box now and post some slides of HRC’s year in review. It has been an INCREDIBLE year and we are all so excited to see HRC continue to grow, and continue to help these beneficiaries.

There are about 20 more slides with details of the work we did all year so if you would like to see more about Hope Rescue Centre’s 2016 year, meet the full time volunteers, what progress the ministry has made (a brand new office and car!) and some amazing marketing projects… please click right here: 2017-us-report

And as always, thank YOU, for taking the time to read this, to donate towards and/or to pray about this ministry. Without all of your support, 2016 would not have made much progress and we wouldn’t have the opportunity to do this full time, so again, THANK YOU/MULTUMESC!

Til next time

c

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